


Ori and the Maze of Brambles

by LordNesquik



Series: Ori Works [1]
Category: Ori and the Blind Forest
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-07 09:23:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21455731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordNesquik/pseuds/LordNesquik
Summary: In his journey to Mount Horu, Ori attempts to navigate a suspicious shortcut underneath Black Root Burrows. He ends up falling into a strange, long-hidden cave network underneath Nibel - but he isn't alone for long.
Series: Ori Works [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2057112
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ori and the Blind Forest caught my attention with its mythology from the moment I played it. The game itself created a whole world using tiny fragments of story and its variety of areas, and keeps you wrapped in it from start to finish.
> 
> I took Ori as male for this to cut down on name repetition. Ori is canonically "genderless", but mostly Ori's gender was something you just decided on your own.

As hard as Sein tried, she could hardly speak over the sound of Ori’s paws pushing across muddy ground. The constant squelching was deafening, and water continued to drip from the rotting trunks of the trees above them. Black Root Burrows was never a good place to be and about as far from Mount Horu as they could put themselves. Water from the constant rains blended with the rich soil below and the thick walls of roots to create an awful assault of the senses. A corrupted frog stood in their path, shocking Ori back into paying attention. Its skin seemingly boiled with the acid inside its body and was covered in warts and sores. Ori ducked for cover behind a tall root just before a ball of acid flew narrowly between his ears. Sein used the chance to speak up while the acid embedded itself into the mud, quietly sizzling and popping.

“Ori, Mount Horu is running out of time. We have to make it there before it erupts completely!” Sein shouted from above Ori’s head. Ori responded with a frustrated squeal before peeking back at the frog on the other side of the root wall. He failed to even turn around before a spitball of acid slammed into the side of his head. Sein responded with a charged spirit burst, blasting the frog away while Ori frantically shook his head to remove the corrosive goop, wiping the burbling liquid off his fur with his paws. The two hopped out from the thick wall of roots and continued advancing towards Mount Horu. As his hooves got off mud and onto roots, Ori started impatiently leaping through the trees and branches surrounding him, Sein spoke up once again.

“Koru is going to be looking for us,” Sein spoke softly as Ori leapt from the side of a log. Ori considered this mid-air and allowed himself to fall all the way to the dirt below them. The pair landed in front of a cave running underneath most of Black Root Burrows. The mouth was wide and lead directly into the darkness of the cave. Ori’s inherent light illuminated a portion of the opening, but all he could see was brambles. Ori looked towards the sky, noticing a swarm of purple owls circling above his head in preparation to attack. One by one, the owls began their dive towards Ori. As the first one came into range, Ori leaped upwards and bashed through it to throw himself deep into the cave.

The darkness of the cave was only lit by the purple glow of corrupted brambles and the occasional hostile ooze searching for Ori in the dark. Sein lit the way as the two gracefully hopped from an empty rock face to a log hung vertically from the cave ceiling by sickly-green vines. As Ori landed each jump, Sein moved to the next platform, and over time the pair slowly inched through the cave. Before long, Sein’s light was outshined by the sun pouring in from the cave’s entrance. Ori used the light to leap from platform to platform even faster than before. As he crept towards the cave’s exit, Mount Horu’s massive visage rose into his field of view. Heat began to assault his small body from its powerful flames even though it remained some distance away.

“Ori!”

Sein cried out as a massive purple ooze dropped from the ceiling of the cave. Ori looked up just in time to see it slam directly into his face. On contact, the slime exploded into a blast of thick ooze, sending Ori’s unconscious body spinning head-over-tail towards the brambles below.

“Ori, are you alright? Please, you must wake up!”

Sein’s resonant voice stirred Ori out of his involuntary sleep. His eyes brought themselves back into focus as he slowly opened his eyelids. Purple light flooded in and organized itself into dots, scatted across his vision like stars and separated by a sea of brown. He squinted for a moment before realizing what he was seeing. The massive cave he had fallen into was covered in brambles, and the few corrupted by darkness had attained an eerie purple glow. He forced his aching body to right itself and took in his surroundings.

A magnificent view presented itself as Ori drew his gaze around the cavern. Dots of light from corrupted brambles poured into Ori’s eyes from every direction. Supplementing the purple light of the cavern were bundles of lanterns and candles in-between the bramble thickets. These congregations of burning light were hung with thick, rough rope resembling the brambles around it. The lights were clearly crafted out of more brambles, as their wicks were unusually thick and their wax a deep brown. At once, Ori realized what to do, leaping towards the lantern and bashing through it to traverse the mammoth cave. Moving upwards only revealed more of the cave network, and the path of the cave slowly bent downwards before being split by a wedge of rock. Combined with the purple glow of the bramble thickets, flying through the cavern resembled walking through the night sky.

“The way you fell through is covered in brambles,” Sein spoke as Ori stopped at the split in the cave. “You need to find a different way out. Perhaps we can find a map stone.” The leftmost path revealed a patch of open rock dimly lit by the smoldering remains of candles; Ori landed on it with a quiet thud before immediately rolling out of the way of a cloud of needles flying towards him. Sein responded with a strike of soul fire, lighting up the rock face and slicing the small purple slime in two. Ori threw his head around attempting to find more threats.

“There’s nothing else here. We have to keep moving,” Sein advised. With that, the two leapt up once again, adventuring deeper into the network of the cave.

With a tentative peek, Iris leaned over the edge of the rock face. A single pebble tumbled off the rock outcropping and fell into the depths, ricocheting off bramble bushes before disappearing into the darkness below. Iris attempted to listen to the echo from the bottom of the cavern for a moment before accepting none would ever come. He slowly turned around and stepped towards the edge of the cliff. He gripped his right paw onto a bramble bush far out on the wall, wrapping it carefully around the vine to avoiding cutting open his paw on its spines. Once he had a firm grip on the brambles, he gripped his left paw onto a different bramble bush and pulled himself off the natural stone balcony and over the open void of the cavern. He carefully set his two lower paws in bramble bushes as they stretched to support his weight. Iris peered downwards to the depths below, now made entirely obvious by the lack of rock floor in the way.

With four points secure, Iris let one of his arms loose and reached deep into the bramble bush between his right paw and where his left paw had been. Iris searched around inside the mass of vines for a moment before finding his grip on a firm, leathery sphere inside the center. He gave the object a firm tug, separating it from the vines of the bush and bringing it towards his face. The fruit was heavy in his hand and its thick skin was rough to the touch. He carefully tossed it into the hole in the rock of the cavern he had been standing on before following it and returning to the safety of solid rock.

Iris set himself down with a light sigh on the cold rock surface. His tiny home was built inside a hole in the rock of the cavern, and it was scattered with whatever sparse items of comfort he had. A pile of shredded bramble bush scraps far in the corner made for an uncomfortable bed, and a few soft rocks useful for making markings in the complex maze of brambles sat in the opposite corner beside a large flat stone. He bent down to grab the fruit he had recovered from the bramble bush. It weighed heavy in his hand as he carefully drew one of his claws. He carved through the thick skin of the fruit and leveraged it off the fruit. The flesh left behind was a vivid green and soft to the touch. Iris ate the flesh whole before crouching down to pick up the skin of the fruit and throw it into the black abyss of the cavern below.

Iris considered taking more of the fruits from the brambles around them but reconsidered as he peered into the darkness of the cavern below him. It only took a moment of idle gazing for Iris to see the makeshift hanging lanterns which lit the area around his home were dimming. With a heaving sigh, Iris stepped back onto the rock precipice and grabbed the vines of the bramble bushes above them. He pulled himself away from stable ground and began to climb throughout the cavern. By memory alone, he scurried along the dangerous ladder of brambles, eventually setting himself on a stone jutting out of the cavern wall next to a gap between the brambles. The oil storage itself was mostly haphazard, with crude oil slung from ropes in scavenged glass jars and stone pottery. The makeshift knots hung from stable bramble bushes higher on the cave wall. Iris carefully untied a glass jar of oil from its rope. Focus was crucial and Iris made sure not to slip as he worked the thick bramble rope off the neck of the bottle.

Just before Iris could get the oil loose, the sound of rustling air echoed from the caverns above them. Iris twisted his head around barely in time to see a blinding white figure tumble from the caverns above and crash into the oil storage. Glass, stoneware, and oil flew all over Iris’ vision as he crashed violently from his position into the depths of the cavern below. He spun head-over-tail for only a moment before he stretched his arms and oriented himself fully horizontal. With some effort, Iris was able to grab hold of a bramble bush, gaining several fresh cuts in the process. He quickly assured his grip and twisted his neck around to look for the figure that had crashed into him.

Far below him, the strange entity sat motionless on a fortunate outcropping of rock. Without stopping to think, Iris rushed into the depths below, tossing their limbs from bramble bush to bramble bush to get down quickly. Thorns tore through Iris’ fur as he hopped from one thicket to another. After nearly falling flat on their face to join the now clearly glowing white figure, Iris took a moment to recover before investigating. The large rock surface was rough and covered in loose thorns and pebbles, making crossing it a delicate process. As he approached, Iris looked carefully at the white figure, who resembled Iris closely despite being slightly smaller and an opposite color. Its two lower legs ended in hooves in opposition to Iris’ cat-like paws.

As Iris drew closer, a resonant voice entered his ear from seemingly nowhere. Looking towards its suspected source, he saw a small, floating orb of light perched precariously close to the weak white figure. The orb kept its focus solely on the figure while Iris approached. Closer inspection showed that the figure was badly damaged, with more serious injuries than Iris had sustained on his way down. The orb quickly floated its way in between Iris and the figure, seemingly set alight with blue flame.

“Step no closer,” the orb spoke, “or I will...”

It trailed off. Iris put his paws up passively and advanced one slow step closer.

“My name is Iris. I just want to help – I’ve lived in these caverns my whole life.”

The orb quickly floated back over to the white figure, speaking up as it returned to its original position.

“I am Sein, and this is Ori. We’re lost inside these caves. Please, do what you can.”

Iris hastily moved towards Ori, kneeling to help prop the figure against an empty section of the cavern wall. By now, Ori had regained consciousness, but all he could do was groan quietly and wince as Iris carefully removed coils of spines from his body. Once their work was done, Iris stood up from Ori and stepped back a few paces, leaving Sein space to care for Ori. Iris stared with bated breath as Ori began to regain more of his consciousness. Sein began speaking again, and Iris listened in carefully.

“Are you all right, Ori?” the small orb asked openly.

Ori slowly recovered, gripping the floor and pushing upwards to return to an upright position. A strange black figure stood beside Ori. He was still stuck in the same cavern, as brambles and oil lamps surrounded the gargantuan open passages spreading in three directions around them. The black figure was slightly taller than Ori but resembled his shape in many ways. Ori looked it from ear to paw, noting it was passive and deep black in exception for its dull-white eyes. The figure extended its arm in a peaceful gesture and approached Ori slowly. Ori spoke out, his voice resembling the resonant humming of a tuning fork.

“Who are you?” Ori asked, both to the figure and Sein. Sein answered first.

“Ori, this is Iris. You slipped up in your exploration of the caverns and crashed into him, but he helped you recover.”

Iris looked inquisitively at Ori.

“I’m glad to see you’re alright,” Iris assured quietly, “I’ve never seen your kind before.”

Iris looked upwards in thought for a moment before nodding slowly. After a moment of nothing, Iris made a small mewl and waved its arm for Ori to follow before throwing itself towards the opposite wall of the cavern. For a moment, Iris seemed doomed to fall deeper into the cavern, but it soon gripped the bramble bushes of the cavern wall and pulled itself upwards through the spines. One step at a time, Iris climbed up the brambles.

Ori ran and jumped towards the nearest oil lamp and bashed through it, accelerating upwards towards where Iris was climbing. Within the minute, Ori arrived at a rock outcropping outfitted with basic furnishings – a small pile of bramble scraps for sleep as well as a flat-topped rock clearly functioning as a table. Ori peered over the edge to see the black figure just barely toss itself flat onto the rock outcropping, panting and decorated with nicks from the brambles. Sein moved towards the figure’s face until it was hardly three inches away.

“I didn’t know anyone lived down here,” Sein commented, “as far as I figured it was brambles and forest life.” Sein hovered back above Ori’s head, bobbing up and down to call attention to Ori. With some difficulty, the figure stood up using the brambles near the edge of the natural balcony. The figure reached deep inside the bramble bush’s gaps, searching for a moment with its arm before recovering a small fruit from the core of the bramble bush.

Iris spoke while he peeled the thick, leathery outer layer from the faintly fresh-smelling fruit.

“As I said before, I am Iris. I have spent my life living in and charting these caverns by the bramble vines. You are welcome to stay with me if you so need, or I can guide you to an exit.” In a single bite, the flesh of the fruit was gone, and Iris quietly cleaned his short, cat-like snout.

“After what happened, you might need rest as well,” Iris warned Ori in a slightly quieter tone of voice. “I understand the accommodations aren’t much, but please feel free to stop for a moment here.”

Ori looked over himself at the wear gained from fighting off the swathes of cave creatures and falling through brambles. The push through the caves had been difficult and filled with a variety of corrupted monsters, including those found nowhere else in Nibel. Quietly, Ori curled up in the opposite corner of the homestead and did his best to get comfortable. Iris took the hint and Ori watched him silently curl into his patch of bramble scraps before closing his eyes.

With a long stretch and a desperate grip of the cave walls beside him, Iris woke up and came to his feet. Ori was still asleep, his body rising and falling silently with his breath. Iris snuck past Ori and stepped toward the precipice of the homestead. The edge itself didn’t have much space, jutting out as a rough, curved triangle in the cavern. Iris reached up and grabbed the brambles above them, tugging directly upwards to throw himself upwards and secure his legs against the vines. Originally, Iris intended to only grab a few fruits, but ambition and high yields drove him to climb among the brambles for some time before returning to a large pile of fruits. Iris collected the fruits he had dropped haphazardly onto the rock and sat next to the stack. The mountain of fruits measured half as high as Iris while he sat with his back against the wall. With care, Iris picked a single fruit off the top, quickly looking it over for rot or corruption while tearing the hard rind away from the flesh on the inside of the fruit. The tearing and tossing noises were finally enough to wake Ori’s light sleep.

Iris watched as Ori silently opened their eyes. For a moment, neither of them moved, but Iris soon returned to working through the pile of fruit while Ori stood up and walked slowly to the edge of the homestead’s balcony. Iris set the fruit he had been working on to the side and quietly stepped toward the edge beside Ori.

“I’ve built up a map of everything I’ve learned about these caverns. If you wish to leave, we should start there,” Iris asserted before stepping backwards and leaping across the relatively thin portion of the caverns his home overlooked.

Surprised, Ori watched as Iris ground to a halt against the bramble bushes of the cavern wall before jumping to follow, bashing through an oil lamp hung from the ceiling far above. For some time, Iris climbed while Ori followed with a quiet flight through oil lamps and candles. The path to Iris’ map was winding and varied from open crevasses to small, twisting caves. The travel was short, however, and before either got tired Iris directed the three towards a small cave leading into the solid rock wall.

Iris threw themselves face-up onto the cave’s cold rock surface while Ori landed gracefully beside him, with Sein close behind the two. Iris stood up and brushed himself off before grabbing an oil lamp sitting at the mouth of the cave. The lamp’s reserve was full of thick oil, but the wick remained unlit. For a moment, Iris tried to set it ablaze without tools, but soon set the lamp back in its position with a frustrated squeal and stepped deeper into the cave. A crash erupted from behind Iris before he could get through the first turn and he instinctually turned around. The oil lamp was lit with an eerie blue flame as Ori held it up above their heads. Iris’ eyes opened wide for a moment, looking back and forth between Sein and the lamp. Neither of them responded, and Iris cautiously turned his back towards Sein to walk deeper into the cave. Ori followed close behind.

The cave itself ran in one direction without splitting. At times, it was hardly large enough to fit Iris, flattening his ears against its smooth ceiling. The absence of any brambles or monster presence made the journey calm but tumbling rocks and Iris’ shuffling body prevented silence. As the two reached their stopping point, Iris sped up and turned a corner, leaving Ori’s field of vision. Ori sped up their walk to match his but stopped in their tracks as soon as they turned the corner.

The cave widened into a full cavern, and the floor was covered in lines and points of ash resembling a map. As Ori’s gaze shifted upwards to absorb the full size of the cavern, the gargantuan size of the map was revealed. Markings covered every inch of the cavern’s walls save for a small clearing on the floor just large enough to comfortably walk on. Ori’s eyes widened and Sein raced around the walls of the cavern, inspecting every inch of the massive drawing.

As Ori finished admiring the drawing, his gaze fell back onto Iris, who was hurriedly hopping between the gaps of the drawing to inspect the different points between the lines. Iris gestured his paw out towards Ori without moving his gaze from the map, and Ori followed suit by joining Iris and observing the area of map he was staring into. Without a sound, Iris drew his claws out of his paw as the same purple glow of the corrupted brambles in the caverns emanated around it.

Ori stepped backwards as Sein set themselves firmly in between Iris and Ori. Iris, being far too absorbed in his map to notice this gesture, set a single claw on one of the ashen points of the map. The point itself turned from a dull orange to a glowing purple, and Iris used his other paw to point towards Ori without looking, the same purple glow radiating from the claw he pointed to Ori with. Iris dragged his claw through the ash, turning the path he believed Ori had taken a glowing purple until stopping at a point indicating the outcropping where the two of them had met. Iris continued this pattern, stopping at a larger point indicating where Iris and Ori had rested. With a clear path laid out in glowing purple, Iris turned back towards Ori and Sein.

Ori was a few steps away from Iris and Sein’s light obscured most of Ori’s body, but by his widened eyes it was clear he was shocked. Iris cocked his head to the side in confusion while staring directly into Sein, narrowing his gaze.

“The darkness that hates the light – are you of it?”

Sein’s accusatory voice echoed through the cavern. Iris continued looking confused for a moment before cautiously shaking his head in disagreement.

“I know of light and darkness, but I’ve never heard them personified,” he stated, the confused look on his face providing emphasis.

Ori looked back towards Sein, giving a friendly squeal and walking past Sein to join Iris at the map again. After a moment of awkward silence, Iris returned to his map, quickly outlining the quickest route to a nearby entrance to the cavern system. The point on the entrance was slightly larger than the ones surrounding it and only showed the outline of a circle. Ori studied the directions closely, attempting and failing to memorize them. Sein spoke towards Iris once again, this time their radiant voice echoing with an apologetic tone.

“I apologize if I seemed brash in my accusation,” Sein admitted, “but the fate of the Forest of Nibel rests on our haste. Will you guide us to this exit?”

Iris nodded gleefully, carefully stepping back towards the central path of the cavern. Ori followed directly behind and the three sped through the narrow cave back towards the bramble-covered caverns. The three moved quickly through the cave and before long Sein broke the silence.

“I suppose you wouldn’t understand the state of Nibel if you spend your time down here. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

Iris looked up towards Sein.

“The Maze of Brambles is a quiet place. I enjoy it here.”

The three advanced through the cave in silence until they reached the bramble cavern once again. With a quiet sigh, Iris grabbed hold of the spiny vines once more, and Ori followed close behind in mid-air. Navigating the cave with Iris’ help was far slower, leaving Ori to silently absorb the atmosphere while Iris determined their next turn from the safety of the nearest rock outcropping. This continued for a few turns until Iris finally found his destination. He pointed his claw straight upwards, a purple glow igniting at its sharp end.

Above the three was a long, narrowing tunnel whose walls were far sparser in brambles than the rest of the cavern. The top of the tunnel curved to the left out of view. A natural light radiated from it and shone onto the brambles of the rest of the cavern, filling in their colors with brown and black. At once, Iris began climbing up the walls of the cavern, and Ori followed close behind.

The upwards tunnel itself was at first dimly lit by the sky above. As Ori climbed, more light poured in from the evening sky above. The cavern subtly curved over time, eventually becoming horizontal enough for Iris to let go of the brambles and simply walk along the rock floor of the cave. Ori and Sein joined him soon after, and their sight was drawn to the direct view of the Forest of Nibel above.

“Thank you for your help!” Sein quickly stated as Ori waved to Iris. Wind poured in from the mouth of the cave, and the two turned to run into it. In his peripheral view, Ori could see Iris reaching out to him.

“Wait!”

Before Iris had time to explain, the sound of a great bird call filled the cave with noise. Kuro was staring directly into Ori’s eyes and diving for the cave. Just before she slammed into the cavern itself, Kuro brought up her wings, slamming a gust of wind into the cave. Iris was pushed flat and Ori struggled to stay standing.

“Into the Maze!” Iris shouted towards Ori and Sein over the sound of Kuro’s body rustling at the mouth of the cave. Ori jumped backwards towards Iris, landing just as Iris broke into a sprint down the slope. The ground beneath them began to shake and the sound of rocks crumbling behind them filled the cave. Before long, the light from the Forest of Nibel no longer lit up the rock walls around them. The cave’s curvature made it difficult for Iris to keep running, and both Iris and Ori eventually leapt into the vertical drop downwards towards the Maze of Brambles.

Ori easily landed on an angled rock jutting from the edge of the Maze’s wall. Iris, with significantly more difficulty, managed to get a hold of the brambles near that same rock and climb back to Ori’s position. Iris, his eyes wide with fear and adrenaline, stared directly at Ori.

“Follow me,” Iris commanded in his quietest voice, “We will speak of this soon.”

Iris calmly pulled himself onto the cold rock floor of his makeshift home, this time with stability. Ori landed quietly close to his left just as Iris walked towards the inner wall. Without a sound, Iris leaned himself against the wall farthest from the ledge. He cocked his head upward toward Sein’s position.

“What’s happening up there?” Iris demanded.

“A great darkness has attacked the forest,” Sein began to explain, “It started when Kuro removed me from my position in the spirit tree. Ori and I are working to restore balance to the forest by restoring its three elements – Warmth, Winds, and Waters. We fell in here by mistake.”

“And this Kuro attacked us just now?”

Sein paused for a moment.

“Yes. Kuro’s furious over the loss of three of her children to the light of the Spirit Tree.”

Iris’ gaze softened. The anger on his face gave way to fatigue and his eyes shifted back to Ori.

“This system of bramble-infested caverns has only so many entrances, and with each collapse the whole system runs the risk of collapsing in on itself. If Kuro can track you with this much ferocity and cave them in, I can’t risk bringing her to another one of them.”

Sein floated just between Iris’ head and Ori’s, seemingly vibrating in midair.

“The Forest of Nibel is dying!” Sein raised their voice. “With it is all the life that lives inside it. We have to –”

“I nearly died in that rockslide!” Iris cut Sein off with his best rendition of a shout. “I don’t have the agility to make it out of another cave-in, let alone the energy. Kuro might kill me herself if I try again.”

Sein almost began again, but Ori squealed quietly in response. Silence set over the three and Iris moved back towards his pile of bramble scraps. Before he could lie down, Sein spoke up once more.

“Then what to those who live on the surface? Those whose deaths you are ensuring. To the Spirit Tree and all the Forest of Nibel? What to Ori?”

Iris flopped onto the pile of scraps, devoid of energy from the intense run home. He looked upwards towards Sein once more, his face calm and sincere.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”

Ori stepped away from Iris and back towards the opposite corner of the room. Sein followed close behind and Iris curled deeper into the bramble scraps surrounding him, nearly covering his eyes with his fur to get some rest.

After some time, when Sein was sure Iris was sound asleep, Sein moved back into Ori’s view.

“We have so little time to spare,” Sein whispered. “We must find a way out of here.”

Ori looked over at Iris for a moment, concern in his eyes. Sein floated back into Ori’s vision, carefully out of the way of Ori’s line of sight with Iris.

“I’m sorry,” Sein whispered, “but Iris must wait. If he remains down here, he is safe from the chaos above.”

Ori nodded. The two made their way to the rock precipice overlooking the caverns of the maze silently. Sein floated out into the middle of the maze, lighting up their surroundings in blue.

“Iris’ map is our best chance, but I fear we cannot find it again without his help. There is no Map Stone in this place – only the Nibel above held those.”

Ori leapt out to follow, bashing through a lamp and soaring into the caverns around them. Using a vague memory of their journey, Ori attempted to relocate the map inside of the maze. The bramble-covered walls surrounding them did little to differentiate themselves from one another, each turn seeming more and more like the last.

Fire raged across the Forest of Nibel. Even peeking out from the homely cave they hid in washed heat over Naru’s face. She brought her head back inside, looking at the Gumon next to her and slowly shaking her head. With a quiet thud, he sat down, looking away from Naru in frustration. The tiny cave they sat in was hardly tall enough for Gumo to comfortably stand in.

The two waited together in silence. After some time, Gumo stood and wandered towards the entrance to the cave to check the surrounding landscape for themselves. As they peeked on the other end of the rock wall, heat baked their eyes. Fire raged around the Spirit Tree as it sat in silence.

Naru looked on as Gumo’s eyes widened. A blue light covered the portion of his face which leaned outside the cave, and he called for Naru with surprise in his voice. Naru rushed over, peeking outside the cave behind Gumo.

A chorus of blue light erupted from the tree and its leaves, washing the entire forest in rivers of radiance. It flowed in every direction, including directly towards the cave the two hid in. The light was cooler than the heat of the fires around them, but not cool enough to reverse the flames.

Naru stepped back inside and sighed while Gumo remained fascinated. She looked over at the tiny nest Ori had crafted long ago to rest in. Resolve filled her eyes, and Naru stepped back towards the cave’s mouth, stepping past Gumo and walking into the forest below. She looked back over her shoulder, gesturing for Gumo to follow. Cautiously, he stepped out of the cave and into the blue forest below. Naru walked straight towards the Spirit Tree, and Gumo followed close behind.

Confused and turned around, Ori sat on an unstable rock precipice to rest. Sein spoke over Ori desperately panting for air.

“We can’t be far from – Ori, look!”

Ori stopped gasping and opened his eyes. Faint blue light flowed into the cavern from a turn far above them, lighting up the brambles it passed. It seemed to flow and wash over Ori, falling from the top of the cavern to the bottom. Sein floated towards it.

“The Spirit Tree’s strength was restored by the elements you fixed. It’s calling for you!”

Ori’s face lit up and he leapt towards the lamp being washed by the blue light. Sein followed, speaking over the sound of air rushing past Ori’s ears.

“That’s it! The light must flow from the surface.”

Ori dashed excitedly from lamp to lamp into the flow of blue light. As he flew, more of the blue light lit up the cavern around them. The bramble thickets were revealed in a blue bright enough to suppress the purple glow of the corruption holding them. After some time, the light began to flow from multiple paths, colliding and lighting the caverns around them in what seemed like daylight. Confused on where next to go, Ori looked around and recognized the turns around them. With instinctual accuracy, Ori spotted Iris’ home among the wall of brambles and landed on it to get his bearings.

A wave of cool air swept over Iris. After attempting to adjust to avoid it, he finally opened his eyes and looked out towards the rock precipice of his tiny home. Ori stood there, poised to jump back into the caverns. A blue light washed over him and the cavern. Iris jumped to his feet, running out towards Ori. As he reached the edge of the precipice, the immensity of the light hit his eyes. The home view he had been looking over for years was awash in a cleansing blue light rather than the usual dim purple and yellow. He was fascinated, looking over every inch of the maze in this new state.

Just before he could speak up, Ori jumped back into the cavern. He bashed through a lantern and ran directly into the cavern with the brightest flow of blue light.

“Wait!” Iris shouted after him. Ori made no response as he flew through a turn in the cavern and out of sight. With a frustrated grumble, Iris gripped the bramble thickets and climbed through them as fast as he could, leaping from thicket to thicket on the eerie blue walls of the cavern. The light surrounding him made his travel much faster, but Ori was long gone by the time Iris rounded the corner. Following the only pattern he had seen, Iris went into the brightest blue light of each turn. Ori was long out of sight, yet each time the blue light he entered grew brighter and brighter. For a moment, Iris stopped. The turns he had been taking were familiar.

Ori was headed for an exit to the Maze of Brambles.

With redoubled ferocity, Iris leapt from bush to bush on the rocky cavern walls. Thorns cut into his paws as he climbed. He moved faster than ever and soon rounded the corner to see Ori’s white form peering upwards to a view of the clear Nibel sky. Heat poured into the cave along with the strange blue light. Iris made his last leap onto the horizontal rock which approached the exit to the cave just as Ori leapt out towards the open sky.

Iris ran to catch up, but Ori’s speed far outpaced his own. He ran out of the cave behind Ori as the sunlight and heat stunned his eyes. Iris called out to Ori while stumbling backwards, his arm shielding his eyes.

“You can’t be out here! It’s not safe!”

Iris’ voice went unheard. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Iris spotted Ori’s white form against the raging red of the burning bramble thickets around them. Ori was leaping deeper into the flaming forest. Iris ran to catch up as his fur crashed through brambles and thorns. Ori stopped on a stack of rocks to get his bearings. Iris took advantage and sprinted to get within earshot. Just before he could speak, however, a familiar sound flooded the air and took his breath away.

A great bird’s call pierced the sky around them. Iris instantly crouched down, hiding himself in the brambles. Gusts of air slammed onto Ori, knocking him off the stack of rocks and into the brambles below. Ori tried to run through the brambles but only ended up getting entangled. Iris craned his neck upwards and looked up to the sky just as a streak of black raced towards him.

Kuro landed on the stack of rocks, peering down at Ori. Ori tried desperately to crawl away but was nonetheless pinned in Kuro’s hateful stare. The great owl leaned down, screaming directly into Ori’s face. Sein floated in between Kuro’s beak and Ori.

“This has to stop!” Sein shouted desperately over the cackling of fire.

Kuro made no response and began to rear its wings up once again. The owl hovered down until its massive talons were just in front of Ori before setting itself down. She lifted one of her talons and slammed it near Ori, its sharp end almost landing on Ori’s feet. Before she could advance once again, her shriek filled the air. This time, however, it was not one of aggression.

It was filled with pain.

Ori looked upwards towards Kuro’s head. Atop it desperately gripped Iris, peering down at Ori. Inside his hand and now Kuro’s right eye was a bramble bush the size of Ori’s head. Kuro’s pained scream continued as she reared her wings up and hovered once again. Iris struggled to hold on but kept the brambles in Kuro’s eyes. Finally, Kuro reared her wings high and lifted itself away from the brambles. It thrashed as it lifted higher into the air, knocking the brambles out of its eyes.

Iris held desperately onto the bird’s feathers. As soon as the brambles were loose, Iris attempted to grab Kuro with his now-loose paw. Before he could, however, Kuro beat her wings once again and Iris’ only holding paw was flung from her feathers. Thrown in midair, Iris attempted to turn himself upright, but as he fell Kuro positioned her wing to be just above him. A single angry beat of Kuro’s wings flung Iris into the brambles. Kuro screamed once more before flying away from the three.

Ori was too busy sprinting through the brambles towards Iris to pay attention to where Kuro had gone. Sein did their best to clear a path in the thorns, keeping Ori from being scraped. Ori dashed to close the gap between the two of them and crouched down to Iris’ body. It didn’t move to react.

Sein hovered over Ori’s head; their voice was quiet and soothing.

“Iris died on impact, Ori. We have no time to mourn. You must finish this.”

Ori looked up at Sein and nodded. He crawled back onto the stack of rocks Kuro had just left.

“Mount Horu contains the Element of Warmth. Restore it, and the forest can be saved.”

Ori spotted the booming volcano in the distance, and the two sprinted through the forest towards it.

A grand light shone outwards from the tree. Ori woke up with a start in Naru’s arms as a shockwave of light pushed them backwards. With it, the fires raging in the forest disappeared. Light poured from the Spirit Tree in every direction like the rivers of light which had flowed through the Maze of Brambles.

For a moment, Ori enjoyed being cradled inside Naru’s welcoming arms and watching as the forest restored itself. After his moment of relaxation, he jumped onto his feet with a start. Without hesitation, he ran into the trees, prompting Naru to follow. Ori darted through the trees as fast as he could, narrowly avoiding every obstacle in his way.

A patch of burnt brambles surrounded a stack of rocks. The memory of Kuro’s attack was burned into Ori’s mind. With care, Ori walked through the ashen brambles as they collapsed around him. Laid neatly in the center of the ashes was Iris’ body. Ori crouched over it, gently gripping his paws around its shoulders and lumping it over his back. It took every ounce of strength Ori had to remain standing. Slowly, Ori began shambling back towards the Spirit Tree.

Just as Ori reached the trees with Iris’ body, Naru spotted Ori from deeper inside the forest. Naru rushed to greet Ori and noticed Iris’ body soon after. Ori squealed quietly and Naru quickly grabbed Iris’ body, easily carrying it through the trees far more quickly than Ori could. Naru looked over the body in her arms, alternating her eyes between it and Ori. They navigated the forest quickly with the help of the Spirit Tree’s light.

Ori guided Naru through the forest path, slowing his walk as they approached the stone altar. Light beamed from its indentations and a flow of glowing-blue light surrounded it. Naru adjusted her feet to be as close as possible to the altar without risking falling into the water. Ori, now stood on the altar itself, took Iris’ body out of Naru’s hands with care. With both arms he slowly set Iris on the circle carving in the center of the altar before letting it go. Ori sat down, his hooves in the water below, and gently set a single paw on Iris’ motionless form. As loud as he could, Ori looked up to the mass of greenery and flowing light that was the Spirit Tree and made a wailing squeal to its form.

A deep rumbling surrounded the earth around them. Naru stepped cautiously back from the altar as light rushed from every engraving in it. The air around Ori shook as a booming voice resonated from the Spirit Tree in the distance.

“The being of darkness which gave itself for my light,” the Spirit Tree began.

Ori looked down at Iris’ body in anticipation.

“Will live again under the Forest of Nibel.”

Light rushed around the altar from the tree. Naru took a cautious step back and covered their eyes. Ori remained fixated on Iris, watching intently as light rushed around his form. The light concentrated to a point and exploded in a burst of air and sound which knocked Ori away from the altar and onto the grass of the clearing.

As Ori drew himself from the dirt and turned himself over, a familiar paw extended peacefully, a blue light emanating from its retracted claws. Iris took Ori’s paw and drew him from the dirt and the two met eyes.

For a moment, Iris stood still, staring into Ori’s eyes. Neither of them moved.

Eventually, Iris averted his eyes to his own form, looking himself over in confusion. He patted his fur with his paws where there had once been tearing wounds.

“What happened? I remember you running out of the Maze and –”

Ori interrupted Iris, throwing his arms around him in a hug. Iris followed suit soon after. After a moment, Ori let go, stepping backwards away from Iris. Iris took a step backwards towards the altar, looking around himself at the Spirit Tree and its light.

“This place… it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Is this Nibel? Is this how you saved me?” Iris spoke out loud, confused.

Ori giggled lightly in affirmation. “This is the forest of Nibel,” Ori reassured.

“I don’t want to leave this place,” Iris quietly admitted. Ori smiled.

Iris woke up to the warmth of the sun on the cave rock. He gripped the stone walls around him and lifted himself from his bed of salvaged bramble scraps, stretching desperately as he came to his feet. He grabbed a fruit from the leaf-wrapped pile he had picked the day before, tentatively eating its sweet flesh. Subconsciously, his eyes narrowed at the taste after expecting the tough and sour flesh of a bramble fruit.

As he looked out into the forest from his cave opening, devouring the rest of the fruit, a glow in the distance caught his eye. It moved quickly, dashing in and out of vision between the trees and bushes. Iris gasped after a moment at the sight. Instantly, he ran out into the forest to meet Ori in the middle.

He failed at this and Ori made it to him just after he left his hideout. Ori grabbed his paw and immediately ran back in the other direction, dragging Iris into a half-stumbling run through the forest. After hitting his head directly on multiple tree trunks at full speed, Iris pried his paw loose from Ori’s.

“What’s going on?” he asked, dazed and frantic. “What could possibly-”

Ori squealed over Iris’ complaints, grabbing his paw once more and dragging him the rest of the way to Swallow’s Nest. Huddled around its back wall was Naru and Gumo, seemingly peering at something. Ori joined the two and gestured for Iris to follow. Iris’ eyes widened as he realized what had happened. He crept over to the corner, doing his best to politely part Naru and Gumo to see for himself.

An owlet peered back at him, half an eggshell adorning the deep purple feathers on its body. It looked around at the four figures enclosing it, backing down slightly. Iris lowered himself onto one knee, extending a single paw towards the owlet in a friendly manner. It cooed softly and embraced his paw, rubbing its warm head feathers against it.


	2. Addendum: Gratefulness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An extra chapter, covering Iris after the events of Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Contains major spoiler for WotW and BF, as well as only making sense with both games as context.

“Hey, it’s me, Iris.”

Iris stood at the foot of the golden tree. It was a little more than twice his height now, and its mantle of light seemed to stare at him from above.

It didn’t respond.

“You know, that coward you saved underneath Black Root Burrows? When Nibel was blind? Your, heh, your first adventure?”

Silence.

“Who knew we’d… or, you’d…”

Iris cleared his throat. He looked up at the crown of light at the top of the tree.

“I had no way of knowing I’d be standing here. It feels like it’s been no time at all since you restored Nibel, and now…”

His head sunk back down to looking at the tree’s roots. His expression was melancholy, and he played with his paws as he tried to come up with words.

“It was Gumo who told me everything, but I should’ve known the second I didn’t see a spirit tree looming over a glowing forest.”

Iris paced around some of the small roots, peering out at the forest beyond. It had begun its repair and the light of the new Willow was seeping life into the cracks.

“Really, I should’ve known when you dragged me out from those brambles that you had more in store for you than Nibel. The Willow and Seir, they called to you. One way or another, you found them, and you saw the forest, and you just decided you were going to save it too.”

No response. Iris’ voice was beginning to crack.

“You were just too good for us. You were so bright you ended up finding a home among the stars just to save the rest of us.”

Iris’ breath caught on the lump in his throat. All at once, his voice crumbled into weeping as his vision blurred, and he nearly collapsed on the scenic forest overlook.

Suddenly, the faint light in his vision grew compellingly brighter. He wiped the tears from his eyes and controlled his breathing.

The entire forest before him was glowing bright golden. Light rushed from the small spirit tree and spilled across the landscape. Out of every valley and over every mountain, from the gaps in the trees of every forest, golden light erupted towards his eyes.

“I see you’re still thinking about us,” Iris responded with a smile, his voice still quivering. He raised his paw out in front of his eyes and held it over the landscape, watching the golden light dance behind it.

As his eyes refocused on the land beyond his paw, he noticed something. The light in the landscape across the forest seemed to glow brighter as he waved his paw over it. Its golden plumes drew farther up from the ground and twinkled above the rest.

He moved his paw again, and the light followed, hovering across the landscape.

His eyes widened with realization. He drew his other paw and it too seemed to pilot the light underneath it. He met them and drew them apart again and again, watching the forest below dance with them.

The entire forest’s light seemed to bend with his gestures. Far beneath him, the creatures of the forest stirred with curiosity as a golden aura flowed through the land in rushing rivers.

He drew both his paws up to the sky, and with them, the light soared. He slammed his paws down and it broke, exploding over the forest like a silent shockwave, before spreading evenly throughout the forest.

A crowd of Moki began to gather around him. Their eyes were wide and glazed as they watched Iris conduct a riotous movement of light across the landscape. Every twitch and turn he made seemed to be mirrored through the entire forest like the ripples of a still pond. He drew more light as he continued and moved his paws in a wild yet precisely conducted manner, creating a masterpiece on the grandiose canvas of Niwen.

Finally, Iris drew his paws upwards towards the sky and dropped them to his sides. His breath was even once more, and his eyes felt clean and clear.

All the light he had been controlling seemed to flow back towards him. It swirled around him, lighting up his fur with a sheen of gold. He looked at his paws, turning them over, and light collected around them.

A Moki walked forward from the crowd. It stared up at Iris with bulging, curious eyes. He had met a few around Niwen, and they showed him the way to Gumo and Naru’s home, somehow already knowing he had known Ori.

“You have his light,” the Moki said.

_“It glows, it dances,” _two more echoed from behind him.

“Who are you?” it asked.

_“New creature, not a spirit.”_

“I am Iris,” he responded, “I came here from Nibel. He saved me during the blindness.”

“He saved us, too,” the Moki affirmed.

_“A hero, a light.”_

“I… suppose I saved him too, once. But he took me from my cowardice into the world above. I have him to thank for ever seeing the surface.”

“You saved Ori?” The Moki’s tone was almost accusatory. It moved an aggressive step closer.

_“Bold claim, doubtful.”_

“He tells the truth.”

Seir’s voice echoed down from atop the new willow.

“He has told me about you,” Seir reassured Iris. “He wanted you to have a piece of his light.”

“I…” Iris tried to say something, but his emotions escaped his words.

“It’s no spirit ability. You can’t conduct that amount of light, but it’ll pierce the darkness wherever you go,” Seir clarified.

“I can’t say enough thanks, but…” Iris tried to fit his question into words.

“What is it?” Seir inquired.

“What do I do now? Should I stay here, or return to Nibel? Am I wanted here?”

Seir almost laughed.

“Of course. Nobody’s going to shoo you off. What you do is up to you, of course, but I’m sure they could find a place for you in Wellspring Glades. If you don’t mind the company, that is.”

Iris looked towards the glowing point in the landscape that was Wellspring Glades. Gumo had mentioned it and he had thought of stopping by, but his trip to the new tree took priority.

“I could get used to it,” Iris explained. He glanced towards Seir with a smile and looked back down at the Moki.

_“A new resident! A new friend?”_

“See you in the Glades,” the one in the front spoke, and they scurried back into the woods.

Iris looked back towards the golden tree.

“Thank you, Seir,” Iris sighed with a relieved smile.

“Of course. It was his gift, I am merely the arbiter.”

“And you saved me from the Moki.”

“They are hardly a threat… although, in great numbers…” Seir trailed off with a giggle.

Iris looked back at the trunk of the tree.

“And thank you,” Iris closed. “I’ll visit often, to make sure Gumo doesn’t get to trouble.”

The silence was deafening. Iris silently wished he could hear him laugh. He turned to leave with a smile, but Seir spoke up once more.

“Don’t let this be the end of your journey,” Seir pleaded. “He wouldn’t want that. You still have so much more you can accomplish, so much more ahead of you."

“I’ll do my best,” Iris agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't leave Iris hanging after putting so much into The Maze of Brambles, and the idea was a fun one to write. Huge inspiration from Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.


End file.
